This invention deals with compositions for and a method of imparting temporary set to human hair involving the application of an aqueous composition containing a dialdehyde polysaccharide and a hydroxyaromatic compound in which two hydroxyl groups are meta to each other. After application of the composition to the hair, the tress is wrapped and heated using a conventional heated rod or brush type curling iron, heated roller, or salon or hand-held hot air blower hair dryer to cause the polysaccharide and hydroxyaromatic compound to react with one another.
Since time immemorial, man has exhibited a desire to control the configuration of the hair of the head, exemplified most basically by the daily ritual of combing, which is almost universally practiced. As part of the ritual of hair styling, man has not only come to cut and arrange the hair in styles influenced by the views of society, but has had a continuing desire to be able to either permanently or temporarily alter the hair type genetically bestowed by changing the natural curvature of his hair.
The type of hair configuration bestowed by nature, be it straight, curly, or somewhere in between, is a function of the structure of the hair keratin in which both covalent disulfide bonds and secondary bonds including hydrogen bonds and salt linkages act to maintain the natural fiber configuration.
One way of permanently overcoming the effects of these bonds is to break them by the application of an aqueous reducing agent after which the fibers are arranged in an altered configuration and the disulfide linkages are rebuilt at new sites within the fiber. The end result is a molecular structure in which the covalent bonds serve to maintain a modified hair style. This chemical approach to the problem is the basis for the various "permanent waving" processes and products available for self-application or as beauty shop treatments.
While reductive processes do indeed provide a more or less permanent change in the natural hair configuration, their very permanence tends to render them undesirable in the views of many people. Such people, while wishing to be able to change the natural hair configuration, prefer a means of being able to do so only temporarily and without the bother of subjecting their hair to reductive chemical reaction.
The simplest and probably the oldest method of temporarily altering the natural configuration of hair on the human head is to wet it with water, arrange the fibers in an altered configuration, allow the hair to dry, and then comb it into a desired final style. The temporary nature of water setting is due to the fact that while the secondary bonds, especially the hydrogen bonds, are broken and reformed in the presence of water, the covalent bonds are not. A disadvantage of water setting is that in the presence of a moist atmosphere, as on a humid day or as the result of scalp perspiration, a water-set hair fiber will tend to return to its original configuration by virtue of the influence of the covalent bonds in the keratin.
While the origins of the practice are lost in history, attempts have long been made to use mechanical means to reduce the tendency of hair to revert to its natural form in humid circumstances. While such materials as mud and various naturally occuring gums and resins were used in ancient times to reinforce artificially constructed hair styles, modern man usually applies a solution of oils, waxes, and/or synthetic polymers which serve to mechanically fix the fiber array by partially coating the fiber surfaces and forming interfiber bridges. Since products of this type do not react chemically with the hair keratin to which they are applied, they may be used as often as desired without causing damage.
Inspired by advances in polymer chemistry, investigators have proposed that fibers, including hair, be treated with compositions containing a variety of polymerizable monomeric species under conditions such that polymerization of the species will take place at the surface of or within the hair fiber resulting in the formation of a hair setting polymer film or deposit. Such films and deposits have a degree of semi-permanence not only because they resist water removal, but also because of limited chemical interaction with the fiber surface itself. In spite of this, they can sometimes be removed by conventional shampooing procedures and hence should be considered as improved "temporary" setting agents rather than "permanent" setting agents.
As mentioned above, the practice of this invention involves the use of aqueous compositions containing polymerizable dialdehyde polysaccharides and meta-hydroxyaromatic compounds. A number of investigators have attempted to exploit dialdehyde polysaccharides and a variety of condensation systems in the treatment of natural fibers. This technology is exemplified in the following patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,552,130 describes the treatment of wool and animal hair by immersion at room temperature in dilute aqueous solutions of specified polyhydric phenols and nonpolymeric aldehydes to form condensation products on the surface of the fibers to improve body and luster.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,105 discloses reaction products of dialdehyde polysaccharides and phenols including meta and para substituted phenols and employing a condensation catalyst to yield polymeric products useful is resins and adhesives formulations.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,479,128 discloses a process for increasing the tensile strength of wool and silk fibers by contact with an aqueous dispersion of a dialdehyde polysaccharide at 20.degree.-40.degree. C.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,584,992 describes a process for modifying wool by reacting it with an anhydrous mixture of cresol and paraformaldehyde at 60.degree.-180.degree. C.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,479,427 discloses hair setting compositions containing hydrated dialdehyde starches.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,659 describes hair treatments employing mixtures of glyceraldehyde, resorcinol, and precondensates thereof.